


The Start of Something New

by TtotheCofA



Category: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Gawain is basically Alphonse from FMA but with less chance of perma-death if the suit breaks, I make no guarantees that these chapters will necessarily be in perfect chronological order, I wrote this for me and I'm posting this for me, I'm past the point where I think "nobody will read this", OCs Abound, but if you enjoy it too, heavy crossover with Mystery Skulls Animated, that will make it better, this is less a cohesive story and more a collection of mini-stories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:48:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21834703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TtotheCofA/pseuds/TtotheCofA
Summary: After the Imperium invasion, Gawain - a young hero who answered J'onn's call-to-arms - gets an interesting message.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 27





	1. The Callback

**Author's Note:**

> A very self-indulgent drabble from a crossover-AU on an Tumblr RP blog. Posted mostly for archival purposes.

Even though the news stations continued to broadcast stories and interviews about the invasion attempt, it hardly felt real, to Gawain.

In the space of only a few days, he had been telepathically summoned by a mysterious voice, joined forces with some of the greatest heroes in the world, and thwarted an alien invasion in a clock-beating showdown straight out of a Doctor Who finale. He’d dreamt about a team-up or two before, but never on such a scale.

Vivi had bombarded him with questions, once she’d assured herself that all of the runes on his suit were still intact and undamaged ( _“What’s Batman like in person? Is Superman as nice as he seems on TV? Who’s the woman with the wings?”_ ) Arthur had fussed over his suit, for a while, but hadn’t been able to resist long before asking questions of his own ( _“What was it like, being on an actual alien ship? Do you think enough pieces survived for someone to reverse-engineer their tech?”_ ).

Lewis had - graciously - refrained from asking anything, himself ( _“I saw enough on the news”_ , he claimed the next morning).

Arthur had repaired the suit in just a few short weeks, but with the exception of a roaming haunt here and there, most of Tempo’s usual troublemakers seemed to have been scared into behaving by recent events (at least, for a little while). It made for an absolutely boring day, but it allowed him to catch up on the paperwork around the workshop, and Gawain couldn’t bring himself to feel frustrated.

After all, the longer it was before he saw that Toki Tamiko again, the better…

But then, one day, he was hanging out in the thermosphere, and a message from Batman pinged into his inbox.

At first, Gawain could only stare at the subject line: “Your presence is required. See coordinates attached. -Batman”. The address was untraceable - had the message not been signed - he would never have attributed to the true sender. A quick search of the coordinates through his on-board positioning system revealed that they led to a spot way out in the Davis Mountains…far from help, or prying eyes. Gawain popped back to the message, and tapped one finger against his armored arm in thought.

What could the world’s greatest detective need _him_ for, way out in the desert like that?

…….

The robot closed the message, and quickly dialed a number on his built-in comm. It rang through to voicemail, but he had been expecting it too - the shop was currently closed for lunch, and wouldn’t open again for another half-hour or so. He didn’t think he had a half-hour to spare, though. Something about this summons felt very, _very_ important.

“Hey, Artie, Uncle Lance!” Gawain chirped when the inbox opened. “You’ll have to have dinner without me tonight, I suspect - I’ve got something I need to check out. It’s nothing dangerous, I promise!” He assured the inbox. “But it’s a summons I can’t refuse. I’ll call again when I get there. Cheers!” Hanging up the call, Gawain brought up the message once more, and set the coordinates into his navigational system.

This spot was only a few hours away, by flying…and from as far up as he was, he could probably cut that time in half, if he stayed high before dropping down...

A light, inquisitive trill came from his left, and an orange snout poked into his field of view. Gawain chuckled, and raised one hand to scratch just beneath one of Griflet’s spines. He felt Bran and Chopper pop out of hiding, wanting affection of their own, and gave them both a quick scratch before pushing a command across their bond: Road trip.

“Let’s go and see what Batman needs, shall we?” Gawain remarked to his Reptilitones before dropping down a few dozen meters to find a tailwind, and flying toward the site. The spectral lizards zipped after him with eager cries, and quickly caught up before disappearing back into hiding.


	2. The Proposal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ngl, I took most of the dialogue straight from the end of "Secret Origins, Part 2".

Gawain still remembered the feeling of sheer awe he’d experienced upon first seeing “The Blue Marble”.

It wasn’t the first image of Earth taken from space, and it wasn’t the last, but it was always his favorite. To know you were standing on that planet, which looked so small against the impossible darkness of empty space around it? It never failed to make him feel immeasurably tiny.

Now, decades later, he found himself looking at that same blue marble from behind the protection of a thick sheet of pressure glass...and it still made him feel as small as it had when he was a child.

“That’s quite the view, isn’t it?” Gawain snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head to find Green Lantern standing beside him, arms folded, and wearing the barest hints of a smirk. A few feet behind him, Hawkgirl leaned against the walkway railing, seemingly unphased by the view.

“The history books just can’t do it justice.” He turned away from the window, his optical display lit up brightly with a smile. “Sorry, I guess I got a little absorbed by it. Did you need me?”

“Superman wants us all together.” Green Lantern explained, nodding his head across the station. “Says he has some sort of proposal for us.”

“Ah…” Gawain adjusted his density, and allowed his boots to rise an inch or so off the floor demonstratively. “Best not keep him waiting then, ey?” Hawkgirl wordlessly took to the air with a few flaps of her wings, and Green Lantern followed her. Gawain paused to take one more look at the Earth, silently spinning so far below, and then floated higher into the air, and hurried to catch up.

“This is an impressive installation…” Green Lantern was saying as Gawain touched down at the back of the group. “Very impressive. But what’s it got to do with us?” Superman’s smile faded somewhat, and he turned to walk toward the window, and look down onto the Earth.

“I once thought I could protect the world by myself…” He mused out loud before turning back to the group. “But I was wrong.” He waved a hand at the blue orb beyond the pressure glass. “Working together, we saved the planet. And I believe that - if we stayed together, as a team! - we could be a force that would truly work for the ideals of peace and justice.” Gawain heard Flash swallow a laugh beside him.

“What. You mean like a bunch of super-friends?” The speedster asked jokingly. Superman’s smile returned.

“More like...a justice league.” He amended. 

“Do you have any idea how corny that sounds?” Flash started to smile. “But...maybe the big guy’s got a point. With all of us behind it, it just might work.” He moved forward, and reached out his hand to clasp Superman’s. “Count me in.”

“Me, too.” Green Lantern walked up and added his hand to the stack.

“And me.” Hawkgirl solemnly added her hand. Gawain drifted over, and laid his own hand on top.

“This sounds like just the kind of noble kickstarter I can get behind.” He said, prompting a chuckle from Flash. Wonder Woman hesitated, left standing apart from the group, and frowned.

“My mother may not approve…” She worried. “But...I find man’s world to be intriguing.” She, too, approached the group to lay her hand on top of the others’. “I’ll gladly join you.” Superman smiled brightly, glad to hear that nearly everyone else was just as on board with this brave new idea as he was, and looked over to the shadow still standing apart.

“What about you, Batman?” He asked.

“I’m not really a ‘people person’.” Batman remained where he was. “But when you need help,” He added. “And you will...call me.” Superman’s smile turned a bit rueful, and he nodded.

“Understood.” He looked around at the others. “Then we’re all agreed?”

“Wait.” Wonder Woman turned to look around at the open portion of the station above them. “J’onn’s not here.”

“Oh yeah!” Flash frowned. “Where is he?” Superman lifted off from the walkway and flew up - to a control outpost one level higher, and Gawain couldn’t help his attention drifting back to the station’s windows. Gosh...his childhood self would have killed for a view like this!

A pair of yellow eyes blinked into existence from the depths of his cape, and Griflet poked his head out into the open. The little spirit looked up at his master’s awed expression, and swam up onto his shoulders to take a look for himself. Gawain reached up one hand to scratch under Griflet’s chin, smiling brightly beneath his mask.

“We’ve made the big times, Griffy!” He whispered to the little ghost.

The folks back home were never going to believe this.


	3. In Which The Villain Forgets To Account For The Robot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > Magic villain uses a shield that can keep out any living being. Gawain walks right through
> 
> Prompt filled!

It couldn’t have been that easy, Gawain thought.

The villain was still laughing, suspended some fifty feet above the street in the grip of a powerful spell. Hawkgirl was furiously slamming her mace into the glowing red barrier, but neither the electrified Nth metal, nor Green Lantern’s power ring, nor even Superman’s laser vision left even so much as a scratch. Diana’s fists only bounced off the barrier, and not even J’onn could phase through it, for its reach extended impossibly high, and even below the ground.

Still, Gawain thought, it couldn’t have been that _easy_.

“Foolish heroes!” The villain shouted gleefully, clearly reveling in their ability to hold at bay seven of the world’s greatest heroes so easily. “No living being can pass through my barrier! I am untouchable!”

“.....” Gawain looked down at his hand, and flexed the fingers curiously. Reaching out, he tried to press his hand against the magical barrier….and made a surprised sound when he passed right through it. Bloody hell, it _was_ that easy.

“Ugh, this guy has an ego bigger than Texas!” Flash griped as he zipped around the magical dome for what felt like (and probably was) the millionth time. “Is he going to monologue right up until the end of the world?” The speedster skidded to a stop when he returned to the group.

“I can’t find a weak spot anywhere. Have any of you guys had any luck getting-....through?” Flash trailed off when he looked back, and saw Gawain standing on the other side of the barrier. “Wha-? Dude! How’d you-?”

“The spell must not count ‘sentient’ and ‘living’ as the same thing. Huh. There’s a philosophical argument just waiting to happen.” Gawain shrugged, and waved his hand past his side. An orange, snake-like form followed the motion out from the depths of his cape, and Chopper looked up at her master with a curious chirp. “Help me wrap this up, will you love?” Gawain nodded meaningfully up at the villain. 

The orange spirit immediately broke into a wide, toothy grin, and launched herself upwards. Like a bola, she wrapped herself around the villain in a vice grip, pinning his arms to his sides, and cutting him off mid-monologue. With his concentration broken, the villain could no longer keep up his levitation spell - but before he could fall too far, Gawain flew up to grab him by the back of his robes, and halt their descent.

“Didn’t account for the robot, did you?” The hero asked cheekily. The villain looked from the long drop to the street, to the seven other superheroes now glaring at him from the other side of the barrier, to the fanged spirit holding him hostage, and his shoulders sagged in defeat.

“No…” He realized too late. “No, I did not.” Gawain lowered them down to the street, and looped an arm around the villain’s shoulders in an almost friendly way.

“How about you let down that barrier, nice and peaceful,” He pointed to the only thing holding back the rest of the League. Hawkgirl casually started twirling her mace by its wrist strap. “And we’ll let you off with just a pair of handcuffs and your fair shot at the American justice system.

“Or…” He leaned out to arms’ length, and Chopper eagerly leaned in to fill the space, teeth bared and gnashing. The villain promptly tried to lean as far away from her as he could. “I’ll step right back out and leave you trapped in here with Chopper until you decide to take it down anyway.” Gawain threatened cheerfully. “Your choice.”

……

“Would you have actually left him trapped in there?” Diana asked Gawain once the villain had been stripped of his spellbook, and loaded into a police car.

“Oh, _god_ no.” Gawain shook his head, scratching under the spiky little spirit’s chin despite his horrified tone. “It was a completely empty threat. She’s all bark and no bite, this one.” Chopper’s yellow eyes snapped open, and she made a short, angry noise of offense before turning her snout up, and vanishing back into hiding within her master’s cape.

“I think you hurt her feelings.” Diana commented with a small smile.

“Ah, she’ll be fine.” Gawain shrugged as they moved to rejoin the rest of the league. “A few hours to sulk on the flight home, and she’ll be right as rain.”

“So, ah, what are we gonna do with these things?” Flash held up the two spellbooks they had confiscated off of the villain once they were all back together. “The police chief didn’t want them sitting around in his evidence locker.”

“He made a good call.” Batman spoke up. “Those books may be harmless to someone who has no interest in them...but in the wrong hands, they can be just as dangerous as any weapon.” He took one of the books from Flash, looking thoughtfully at the cover for a moment, and then turned to Gawain. “Your brother’s fiancée maintains her own library, right?”

“Ah, yes.” The hero nodded, a little bit surprised that Batman knew of Vivi and her growing collection. Then again, he _was_ known as the world’s greatest detective. He’d probably known for-

“Have her hold onto these.” Gawain pulled himself out of his thoughts as both books were dropped into his arms. The leather bound tomes were still covered in dust and little flecks of asphalt from where they had been dropped in the rubble.

“She’d be glad to.” His optical display flashed in a blink. Vivi was going to be over the bloody moon to get a look at these! But yikes...

Poor Mystery was about to have his paws full with an overstimulated apprentice.


	4. Hobby or Hoard?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt:
>
>> "Some league members theorizing that Gawain's horde is dice because shiny brightly colored baubles are a cheap substitute for gemstones (with the whole he's a dragon thing)"
> 
> A short little drabble written for a Tumblr prompt. Featuring: A half-crack theory that Gawain is actually, SECRETLY, the ghost of a dragon, not a human, and a D&D nerd's compulsion to collect as many dice as possible.

“…I mean, of all things to hoard, why dice?” Hawkgirl thought out loud around her mouthful of bagel. “I thought dragons were supposed to hoard expensive things, like gold and gems and the like?”

“If you buy enough sets to call yourself a ‘collector’, it can be a pretty expensive hobby.” Superman pointed out from the other side of the table.

“‘Sides, have you seen what real gemstones cost these days? It’s ridiculous!” Flash tossed a fry up in the air, and caught it in his mouth. “One tiny rock and a bit of spray-painted silver costs you an arm and a leg.” He tossed up another fry, but before he could catch it, Hawkgirl reached up, and snatched it out of the air. “Hey!”

“You could just ask him, you know.” J’onn raised one eyebrow as Hawkgirl ate her greasy prize, and Flash sullenly grabbed a new one from his plate. “I’m sure Gawain would be happy to tell you. He has never been very secretive.”

“That’s a good idea, J’onn.” Superman turned in his chair, and looked across the cafeteria. Gawain was seated in a chair near one of the far windows, out of earshot, and absolutely absorbed in the spacious view. “Hey Gawain!” He called out, raising his arm in a friendly wave. The caped figure perked up, and turned to look back. ”Could you settle something for us?”

“Sure thing, mate!” Gawain hopped up from his seat, and flew across the cafeteria, dropping to the floor only long enough to take a step or two before settling into an open chair at the table. “What’s the topic?”

“Why do you collect dice?” Hawkgirl asked.

“Oh, because I lost the last of my marbles years ago.” Gawain replied cheerfully. Flash paused with a fry halfway to his mouth. “And have you seen the price of an agate these days? It’s ridiculous!” Hawkgirl’s eyes flickered to Flash, for just a second. “Dice are much cheaper.”

“I can imagine.” Superman, for his part, managed to keep a straight face. “If you don’t mind me asking, how’d you get into collecting them?” Gawain’s optical display brightened in what they were all quickly learning to recognize as a smile, and he sat up a little straighter. Flash slowly put his fry in his mouth, and whispered a quiet ‘I told you so’ to Hawkgirl under the conversation.

Hawkgirl elbowed him hard in the ribs.


End file.
